Growing Up

I went this past Friday to visit my Dad in Valdese, NC and on the way there, I pass through the town where I grew up (Conover, NC). Most of the time when I visit, I'm usually in too much of a hurry and never seem to have time to stop by the old homeplace. But, this time, I was going to be early to my Dad's, so I decided to ride by and take some pictures.

This is the house I grew up/lived in until I was 19 and moved off to Charlotte. My Dad sold it probably 15yr ago, so things look a little different 'round back, but in general, it's the same....

This is the furniture shop that my Dad built and where he built furniture chair frames. These chair frames were taken to the various furniture companies, such as Ethan Allen. I spent many a year following my Dad around the shop, smelling the wood and shellac used to finish the frames.

Where these houses are located now, used to be nothing but fields and cow pastures.

My Grandmother's house (paternal), where I spent the majority of my time. We had large gardens, pasture full of cattle, 2 hen houses, an egg house, a place for the pigs/hogs, grain barn, smoke houses, etc...

Thanks for the pics Wolfie. When I go to my mom's house (where we grew up), I get slammed by memories. I'll walk into a room that I haven't been in, in years and for a split second, I'll see it the way it was when I was a kid. Then everything changes to the way it is now. For a second, I think I see my brother as a small kid (he's grown now) or my dad reading a book (he passed away years ago). It feels weird.